Our beloved Parramatta Eels are in the best position to make the finals in 7-8 years. Some facts and that are not alternate facts.
After our bye, Round 19:
- We are in 7th position of the NRL ladder.
- We are only 6 points away from the top ranked team Storm and only 2 points away from the 3rd spot, albeit we have the worst for and against in any team in the top 8.
- We have a number of forwards and backs coming back from injury during the last rounds of the 2017 season.
- Cameron King and utility Will Smith seem to have the hooker position under control.
- Moses hasn’t entirely parted the Parramatta River. However he is certainly showing he is a great asset the last four weeks to our attack whilst our other half Norman is finding his feet coming back from injury,
- We have beaten 2 top eight teams under strength due to SOO (Melbourne and North Qld)
- We were comprehensively beaten by the Sydney Roosters in round 10.
- We compressively beat St George twice, once when they high flying earlier in the comp and once on their downward spiral.
- We have beaten Manly early in the season.
- We were beaten by Cronulla
- We play the Broncos twice in the next 6 weeks to add to our credentials for the finals.
- Our right-hand side defence has significantly improved in the last 3 weeks.
All in all, this is a positive outlook on how we are travelling towards the end of the season rounds without glossing over our failures against the top 8 teams.
We have 7 games left to season proper. Statistically, we have a winning percentage of 59% which calculates to approximately 4 wins.
Realistically the worst we could do I think is 3 wins and best we could do is 5 wins. Our points could range from 30 to 34 points.
Our forwards have been patchy in some games and slammed in others. We need most of the improvement from our forwards. Touching on our forwards, we need those extra little efforts which they are capable of in go forward that gives the backs some more room. Capability wise, it's only an extra 5 % in effort which is not easy but will help them match or roll opposition forwards. They are not that far off the mark.
Any way slam me if you like, but the glass is half full not half empty.
My prediction, 5th on the table once the after the last round of the competition and I think we can make it to the second game of the finals taking into account no significant injuries.
Yours in Eels
Vince
Replies
I dont want to go getting excited, as we know how up and down this comp is.
Tigers will be tough next week, and always seem to trouble us no matter how they r traveling
Do you have to be negative all the time vince ?
Im so sick of the negative nellies around here.
lol
I blame you for this poppa
We were in a better position in round 24 2014. We only had to win one game against either the Knights or the Raiders and we shat ourselves. Both teams were below us on the ladder, with nothing to play for.